LDN Sustainable Healthcare Academy
Project Spotlights
The LDN Sustainable Healthcare Academy empowers learners to translate sustainability knowledge into real-world impact.
Across diverse roles and departments, participants are supporting initiatives that help reduce emissions, cut waste, improve efficiency and support the delivery of NHS Green Plans.
Below, we highlight three learners whose projects demonstrate the real impact of the Academy, from reducing high-impact medical gas emissions and improving energy efficiency, to cutting medicine waste and driving practical, measurable progress towards NHS net zero goals.
Anesh Patel
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
Anesh Patel, Trainee Anaesthetist, has made a clear contribution to sustainability at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust through the LDN Sustainable Healthcare Academy. His work has helped to progress the decommissioning of its nitrous oxide manifold. The project was designed to reduce unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions and support NHS Net Zero ambitions.
Nitrous oxide is a powerful anaesthetic gas with a global warming potential 298 times greater than CO₂, and it can remain in the atmosphere for more than 100 years. Although its use in anaesthetic practice at the Trust was found to be minimal, the existing centralised manifold system released unused gas through leaks in old pipeline infrastructure. This meant the Trust was purchasing large volumes of nitrous oxide, despite almost none of it being used for patients.
“By completing these projects, our Trust has officially become a 'nitrous-light' Trust across five hospitals and four separate sites, setting the standard for what every Trust in the UK should be aiming to achieve. Our most complex project, at St Mary's Hospital, has saved approximately 350 tonnes of CO₂ emissions per year, representing a significant reduction and a major step towards Net Zero.”
Through his apprenticeship, Anesh helped unblock stakeholder engagement, securing approval from anaesthetic and hospital leads after the project had encountered barriers. He then presented the case to the medical gases committee, supported the move to a cylinder-based supply, and helped develop staff guidance for the new process.
The project has strengthened clinical engagement with sustainability, reduced wastage of high-impact medical gases, and created a pathway for a six-month usage audit, with the longer-term aim of removing nitrous oxide from some of the Trust’s hospitals altogether if clinical use is no longer required.
Lucy Redmond
Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
Lucy Redmond, Physiotherapist, has delivered measurable sustainability improvements at Royal Brompton Hospital through the LDN Sustainable Healthcare Academy. Her lighting optimisation project within the Sleep & Ventilation Department has helped reduce energy use, carbon emissions and operational costs. Working in a building dating back to 1882, Lucy identified that infrequently used areas were often lit 24/7 and that existing lighting was not LED-based.
Through her apprenticeship, Lucy researched best practice, reviewed NHS Net Zero priorities and the Trust’s Green Plan and built the case for converting fluorescent lighting to LEDs where feasible, alongside installing motion sensors in low-occupancy spaces. She surveyed the department, engaged service managers and collaborated with the Estates Team to agree and deliver the works. The project also made use of LED bulbs donated from former Nightingale hospitals, supporting resource efficiency as well as emissions reduction.
“The apprenticeship has given me the knowledge and confidence to lead sustainability initiatives within my department. Initially, the project felt daunting as my day-to-day role is primarily clinical, and undertaking an estates-based project was outside my comfort zone. However, by engaging the right stakeholders, I realised that colleagues are keen to support projects that align with the Trust's Green Plan and deliver cost savings. This project showed that a relatively simple change can have a significant environmental, financial, and organisational impact.”
As a result, all appropriate light fixtures were upgraded and motion sensors installed. The project is forecast to reduce carbon emissions by 3,000kg per year, while delivering £4,690.98 in energy savings over five years and £1,570.70 in maintenance savings. Lucy’s work has helped embed practical sustainability within clinical operations, contributing to both the Trust’s Green Plan and wider NHS Net Zero ambitions.
Kerry O’Connor
University Hospitals of Northamptonshire
Kerry O’Connor, Specialist Pharmacy Technician, has contributed to more sustainable and efficient pharmacy operations through her apprenticeship with the LDN Sustainable Healthcare Academy, auditing fixed-dose medicines that could be purchased as pre-made products rather than manufactured in-house. Her project focused on reducing waste, improving staff capacity, safeguarding budgets and helping patients receive treatment more quickly.
The department already stocked seven pre-filled products, but Kerry identified opportunities to expand this approach. By reviewing commonly manufactured fixed-dose items, supplier catalogues, stability data and cost comparisons, she found seven further products with potential to be purchased pre-made. Following further assessment, three products were identified as suitable options to progress through quality assurance.
“Since joining the course, I have been able to deliver measurable sustainability improvements within my department, while also educating my team on why these changes matter. Through my final EPA project, I have also achieved significant cost and space savings, while helping to reduce waste.”
The impact of this work is both operational and environmental. Some pre-made products offer significantly longer expiry periods, with one example increasing from 7 days to 56 days, reducing the risk of medicine waste when patient needs change. Kerry also identified that one new pre-filled product was £10 cheaper per syringe than buying the vial and manufacturing it internally.
By shifting suitable products to a pre-made model, the department can reduce manufacturing workload, ease pressure on an understaffed team, lower safety risks, protect budgets and shorten patient waits, which can currently be up to four hours while medicines are made.
Want to get involved?
For further information, please email our Partnerships Manager, Lisa Instone, via